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Dozens Hurt After Queens Charter Bus to Mohegan Sun Flips Over: Officials

By Ben Fractenberg | February 8, 2016 4:45pm

QUEENS — A bus carrying 55 people from Queens to Mohegan Sun overturned in Connecticut Monday, injuring dozens of passengers, according to a police report.

Driver Keyi Zang told investigators he lost control of the vehicle while merging from the left to right lane on a snow-covered Interstate 95 near Madison, Conn., at about 12:24 p.m., the report stated. He then struck the right shoulder metal beam and the bus overturned. 

Nearly 20 passengers were able to get out of the bus on their own and 36 others were removed by local ambulance workers and taken to area hospitals.

None of the passengers suffered life-threatening injuries and no other vehicles were involved in the crash, a Connecticut State Police spokeswoman said.

The uninjured passengers were taken to the Madison Town Campus Gym where Red Cross workers were waiting to aid them. 

The interstate was closed between exits 60 and 61 for about four hours until the bus was towed away.

A travel advisory was issued on Monday because of snow, which was expected to blanket the area with up to four inches of snow. 

The Flushing-based Dahlia bus company vehicle was headed to the casino in Uncasville, Conn. 

The company was involved in a fatal crash in 2003 when one of its buses overturned in New Jersey on the way to Atlantic City, killing two passengers, The New York Times reported

"I have nothing to say. You have a good day," said a worker who answered the phone at the bus company before hanging up. 

Zang, who lives on 137th Street in Flushing, was not seriously injured and was not immediately charged or given a summons.  

Mohegan Sun spokesman Cody Chapman said the casino was working to gather driving records for the company after the accident.

He also said all buses en route from New York to the casino had been turned around as a precaution because of the weather.

Connecticut State Police were investigating the incident and the National Transportation Safety Board was notified of the crash.